Some disappointing news; the upcoming The Isle of Blood (Simon & Schuster, September 13, 2011) may be the last in Rick Yancey‘s Monstrumologist series. I’m biased; I loved The Monstrumologist, the first in the series and a Printz Honor book; and managed to somehow love the sequel, The Curse of the Wendigo, even more than […]

Rotters by Daniel Kraus. Delacorte, an imprint of Random House. 2011. Review copy from publisher. The Plot: After Joey Crouch’s mother dies suddenly, the sixteen year old is sent to live with a father he’s never met. Chicago’s DCFS assures Joey that his father is expecting him and that the local county services has ensured […]

I have my plane tickets, I have my hotel reservations, I gave a program proposal that has been accepted, I just have to remember to actually register for KidLitCon 2011. Details, they’ll trip you up all the time. Here’s the list of people who have been better about registering. What are they registering for? Take […]

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater. Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic. 2011. Review from ARC from publisher. Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Sequel to Shiver (2009) and Linger (2010). The Plot: In Shiver, Grace met Sam, a werewolf; in Linger, new werewolves and complications are introduced; now, in Forever, it is Grace who is a wolf while […]

I was going to name this post Mary Sue, Where Are You but in looking at my fascination with and exploration of Mary Sue over the years, I found out I’d previously called a post Where Are You, Mary Sue. Mary Sue, for new readers, is a type of character that appears in fanfiction, where the […]

August already? How did that happen? There is still time to Diversify Your Reading this summer! Diversify Your Reading is a reading challenge sponsored by Diversity in YA. Full details are at the Diversity in YA website. Briefly, there are two parts, one for libraries, and one for readers and book bloggers. Libraries can share photos […]

Judy Brown did something amazing the other day. She shared her name. You don’t know her? Yes, you do. Brown wrote Hush, and it was published under the pseudonym Eishes Chayil. In my review of Hush, I said “Eishes Chayil is a pseudonym. An Author’s Note, as well as the jacket copy, explains that Chayil […]

Back in the summer of 2008, I began watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Linda Braun’s post over at the YALSA Blog, Secrets and Confessions, has inspired me to explain just what it is about this show I find so darn compelling even though it has its faults. As a brief recap, The […]

Every now and then, the question of who can review books arises. Different permutations of this argument include everything from who reviews the books to whether what has been written is a “review.” The latest article about this is Judge and Jury: Should novelists double as book critics? Suddenly one prominent reviewer — and author — […]

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan. Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House. 2011. Review copy from publisher. The Plot: Annah has waited in the Dark City for years, waiting for the return of Elias. As children, they, along with Annah’s twin sister Abigail, had been lost in the Forest of Hands and […]

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About A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

Looking for a place to talk about young adult books? Pull up a chair, have a cup of tea, and let's chat. I am a New Jersey librarian. My opinions do not reflect those of my employer, SLJ, YALSA, or anyone else. On Twitter I'm @LizB; my email is lizzy.burns.